Many of today's avid surfers travel to various locations around the globe to enjoy surfing at some of the world's best locations. Additionally, when traveling for business or pleasure to locations where surfing is particularly good,. many surfers like to bring their surfboard along on the trip so that they can take advantage of the opportunity to surf at new locations. When transporting a surfboard, usually on an airline, it is necessary to package the surfboard in some type of protective cover to shield the somewhat delicate surfboard from damage resulting from shock and impact normally encountered during transport on an airline's luggage system.
Presently, most surfboards are transported in soft carry cases having a nylon outer shell and inner lining with a thin layer of foam sandwiched therebetween to absorb low impact. There are also hard cases which are structured to provide a protective shell about the surfboard. While hard cases are than the surfboard to be carried therein. The size of hard cases makes it hard to store them during non-use and therefore, they are not as desirable as a soft case which can be folded and stored in a car trunk or roof rack.
While the carry cases well-known in the art are somewhat effective in protecting against dents and other damage due to impact to the surfboard, none of the carry cases in the present art are effective in preventing damage to the surfboard's fins and tail portion, while also being suited for easy storage during non-use. Often, surfboards transported in the soft cases have their fins broken off due to mishandling including placing other heavy luggage on top of the tail portion of the surfboard. Because the fins are usually integrally formed with the tail portion of the surfboard out of fiberglass, it doesn't take much of a force to break them off.
In an attempt to eliminate the problem of damage to the surfboard's fins during transport, several products have been developed including a pillow or air bag which straps onto the tail portion of the board and includes slots for the fins to extend into so as to be shielded from direct impact. While these devices are somewhat effective, they are not adequate to protect the fins and tail portion of the surfboard from a substantial direct impact which would result in, forcing the airbag to move relative to the surfboard thereby damaging, and possibly breaking off the fins.
Included in the related art are the patents to Beran, U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,380 and Geronimo, U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,952. The patent to Beran discloses a foldable protective cover and carrier for sports equipment including surfboards. The protective cover disclosed in Beran completely covers the surfboard and is somewhat effective in protecting the board from low impact forces which could result in scratching or denting the board. However, the Beran protective cover does not provide a solution to the problem of damage to the surfboard's fins during transport. Geronimo discloses a temporary shock-absorbing cover for protecting the delicate tips and horizontal control edge surfaces of a surfboard. The cover is essentially a resilient, shock-absorbent material which fits around the peripheral edges of the surfboard. However, Geronimo does not address the problem of damage to the surfboard's fins which is the most common source of damage experienced during transport.
Accordingly, with the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a carry case for carrying a surfboard therein during transport wherein the carry case is specifically structured to protect the fins and tail portion of the surfboard from damage due to shock, high impact and general mishandling during shipment.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a surfboard carry case which includes a flexible, soft portion and a substantially rigid, hard portion integrally connected with the soft portion so as to include a common interior compartment wherein a surfboard carried therein will be oriented with its tail portion and fins protectively encapsulated within the hard portion of the case.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a surfboard carry case which includes a hard shell portion adapted to protectively encapsulate the fins and tail portion of the surfboard yet still permitting the case to be at least partially collapsed for convenient storage during periods of non-use.
It is another of the present invention to provide a surfboard carry case which includes a hard shell adapted to protectively encapsulate the fins of the surfboard while being substantially lightweight and easy to handle.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a surfboard carry case which is adapted to protect both the forward portion of the surfboard from impact which could result in scratches and dents thereto and the tail portion of the surfboard including the fins, wherein the tail end fins are completely shielded and protected from direct impact.
Moreover, it is a further object of the present invention to provide a surfboard carry case for protecting the nose, forward portion, tail portion and fins of a surfboard during transport wherein the carry case can be stored conveniently in a minimum of space when not in use.